Syracuse Basketball: Key top-25 games for 4-star commit, 4-star recruits

A Syracuse basketball commit and various recruiting targets will suit up in some enticing encounters during the upcoming 2023-24 season.

Amid the fall recruiting period that got underway about a month ago, college coaches around the country are heading to open gyms to watch recruits at their respective high schools. Orange coaches have visited with a variety of targets at these open gyms, and we’re starting to get a better sense of which high-school prospects have emerged as priorities for the ‘Cuse, especially in the 2025 class.

What’s more, Syracuse basketball recruits are preparing for their upcoming seasons, and details of various games are emerging all the time from national recruiting analysts and scouts.

Samad Hines, a top high-school basketball analyst, recently published a piece where he looked at some big-time battles in 2023-24, and a couple of these affairs involve ‘Cuse recruits. Let’s have a look.

Reviewing some huge high-school games involving a Syracuse basketball commit and Orange targets.

Hines noted several contests for Myers Park High School in Charlotte, N.C., which he has a preseason top-25 team. A standout for Myers Park is 2025 four-star forward Sadiq White, who picked up a ‘Cuse offer in late April.

White took an unofficial visit to the Hill in mid-September. He has said he will officially visit Syracuse basketball at some point. Meanwhile, the Orange coaching staff has watched White more than once at recent Myers Park open gyms, per social media posts.

According to Hines, Myers Park will face the Combine Academy out of Lincolnton, N.C., on Nov. 18 in Charlotte, John Marshall High School from Richmond, Va., on December 1 in Kill Devil Hills, N.C., and the Word of God Christian Academy from Raleigh, N.C., on December 2, also in Kill Devil Hills.

Hines has Combine and John Marshall in his preseason top 25, while Word of God resides just outside these rankings for the time being.

On November 30, heavyweights of the 10-team National Interscholastic Basketball Conference (“NIBC”) will collide. Hines reports that the Montverde Academy in Montverde, Fla., will host the IMG Academy from Bradenton, Fla., in a battle of preseason top-five national squads.

Montverde’s 2023-24 roster includes three 2024 prospects who held Orange scholarship offers, and they are five-star big man Derik Queen, four-star point guard Robert Wright III and four-star point guard Curtis Givens III.

Over at IMG, the Ascenders’ line-up for the upcoming season includes Syracuse basketball 2024 commit Donnie Freeman, a four-star power forward who transferred there from St. John’s College High School in Washington, D.C. Freeman, who verbally committed to the ‘Cuse in May, recently took a second official visit to the Orange.

On February 16 of next year, per Hines, Montverde will head to Long Island Lutheran High School in Brookville, N.Y., which is another NIBC member as well as a preseason top-five group.

Syracuse basketball recruiting enthusiasts will want to keep a close eye on Long Island Lutheran in 2023-24. The Crusaders’ roster includes Orange 2025 priority targets Nigel James, a four-star point guard, and Kiyan Anthony, a four-star shooting guard.

James, offered by the ‘Cuse in late August, took an official visit to Syracuse basketball in mid-September. Anthony, who landed an Orange offer last November, has set an official visit to Syracuse basketball for later this month.

As I noted in recent days, Long Island Lutheran will compete in the loaded second-annual Hoopfest in Paradise, which will take place on December 15 and December 16 in Nassau, Bahamas. Other participants in this showcase event include the Link Academy in Branson, Mo., which won the 2023 GEICO Nationals this past spring.